Digital Experience Specialist

at  Birmingham City University

ABOUT US

At the heart of our Strategy for 2030 and Beyond, it is our mission to enable our students to transform their lives and to achieve their potential. Through our education and research, and the roles our graduates go on to play in the world, we not only support individuals to transform their lives, but we also play a part in transforming society.
Located in the centre of the UK’s second city, we are a university with a long heritage of innovation and of making, dating back to our origins in 1843 when we were founded as the Birmingham Government School of Design.
Our heritage of making through innovation and its application through knowledge exchange, and of creative research and practice, today finds it expression in our STEAM agenda, in our research and enterprise, and in our commitment to challenge-based learning. Working across disciplines, and delivering impactful research and enterprise, interdisciplinarity is at the heart of the continuing transformation of our academic portfolio.

FULL TIME, PERMANENT ROLE.

Library and Learning Resources are seeking a customer-focused and collaborative Digital Experience Specialist to join our Library Technologies and Digital Innovation Team.
Working closely with the Systems, Access and Discovery Team Leader and with stakeholders across the University, our Digital Experience Specialist ensures that user needs are at the heart of digital service design and delivery. The role has responsibility for all digital UX activities: planning, conducting and analysing research designed to understand the needs of various library user communities, including their motivations, behaviours and barriers, and using the information gathered to provide recommendations which help shape our service.
The Library Technologies and Digital Innovation Team has ownership of all library systems (including library management system, resource lists, and library website), including their ongoing management and development. We support the delivery of a seamless and informed user experience through the metadata and standards underpinning discoverability, through co-ordinating user experience research, and through cross-departmental working on our data to interrogate our impact.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Plan and execute user research activities across multiple projects to inform the design of new digital services and products and assess how far existing services and products are meeting the needs of users.
• Identify the needs of various library user communities, their motivations, behaviours and barriers in information discovery through systematic research, e.g. focus groups, observations, journey mapping, data analytics etc.
• Assess digital services and products with respect to online content organization, usability, accessibility, interconnectivity, search functionality and overall user experience in adherence to the best technical and professional standards.
• Analyse and synthesise research data into clear and actionable findings, such as personas and user journey maps.
• Work with digital service / product managers, suppliers and IT developers to turn findings into solutions, prioritise tasks, monitor progress and measure the impact.
• Communicate user insights and design / business recommendations to senior decision makers and other stakeholders.
  The successful candidate will demonstrate skills and experience in digital environments, being able to support the presentation of content of the library website and the development of discovery tools and other library systems.
  Informal enquiries about this role are welcome. Please contact Laura Percival, Systems, Access and Discovery Team Leader laura.percival@bcu.ac.uk